Reporting and managing incidents

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments of systems and methods for reporting and managing incidents are described herein. In one aspect, the method includes identifying a user logged into an incident reporting and alerting portal. A category for the logged-in user is identified. The category includes one of a reporter, a volunteer, and a responder. An incident report is received from the reporter. It is determined whether a comment is received on the incident report from the responder. When the comment is received, the comment is notified to the reporter. It is determined whether a reply to the comment is received from the reporter. When the reply to the comment is received, the reply is notified to the responder who commented on the incident report.

BACKGROUND

Incidents posing a level of threat to life, health, property, orenvironment should be reported. Incidents include, for example, a riot,a fire in a factory, a flood, an earthquake, etc. Now-a-days, people canreport incidents using the internet on social media websites such asTwitter®, Facebook®, etc. Various social media sites are dedicated forgathering information on specific type of incidents. For example,Twitter® Earthquake Detector (TED) site is dedicated for gatheringinformation on earthquake. Typically, TED can help people monitor theprobability of occurrence of earthquake in a particular region. Peoplecan also discuss or inquire about incidents using the social mediasites. Discussions on social media sites may be open ended whereinrelevant information may not be channelized to the right people who mayexecute actions to prevent damages caused by the incidents,

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The claims set forth the embodiments with particularity. The embodimentsare illustrated by way of examples and not by way of limitation in thefigures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicatesimilar elements. The embodiments, together with its advantages, may bebest understood from the following detailed description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings,

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an incident reporting and alerting portal(IRAP) including various categories of users such as a reporter, avolunteer, and a responder for reporting and managing incidents,according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the steps performed for reportingand managing incidents, according to an embodiment,

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the steps performed to register auser under a specific category for handling incidents, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the incident reporting and alerting portal(IRAP) including various widgets for reporting and managing incidents,according to an embodiment,

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an email window generated to enable thereporter to report an incident via an email, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a report incident window generated byselecting a report incident icon by the reporter for reporting theincident, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates a reporter portal or browser including the reportincident icon for reporting incidents, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates a volunteer portal or browser including a reportincident button for reporting incidents, according to anotherembodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates an incident report displayed from a list of incidentreports, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates a watch list window including various hash tagscomposed by the volunteer for gathering information related to theincident, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system, according toan embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of techniques for reporting and managing incidents arcdescribed herein. In the following description, numerous specificdetails are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of theembodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however,that the embodiments can be practiced without one or more of thespecific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. Inother instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are notshown or described in detail.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment”, “thisembodiment” and similar phrases, means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at least one of the one or more embodiments. Thus, theappearances of these phrases in various places throughout thisspecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics maybe combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

The following terminology is used while disclosing embodiments. Oneskilled in the art will recognize that these terms and examples they areused in are merely illustrative.

A participant or a user is a person who uses an incident reporting andalerting portal (IRAP) or other social media sites such as Twitter®,Facebook®, etc., for reporting incidents or exchanging information onincidents.

A reporter is a participant who reports about an incident. For example,the reporter may share photographs and/or news related to any disasteror incident. In one embodiment, the reporter generates and submits anincident report related to the incident.

A volunteer is a participant who is typically (may not exclusively)associated with an emergency management organization like firefighters,rescue services, etc. The volunteer may be trained or may have profoundknowledge in a particular emergency management domain. In oneembodiment, the volunteer rates, edits, or spreads information providedby the reporter.

A responder is a participant who may actively work to prevent ormitigate a disaster or an emergency. In one embodiment, the respondermay be the volunteer who works actively to mitigate or prevent theemergency.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an incident reporting and alertingportal (IRAP) 100 for reporting and managing incidents according to oneembodiment. One or more users or participants can log into the IRAP 100.A logged-in user may be categorized as one of a reporter 110, avolunteer 120, and a responder 130. The IRAP 100 categorizes thelogged-in user under a suitable category 110-130 as per the user'schoice or eligibility. Each category 110-130 represents a specific roleto be played by the user. One or more widgets or tools are providedcorresponding to each category 110-130. For example, the usercategorized as the reporter 110 is provided widgets A1-AN to report anincident. The reporter 110 may use the widgets A1-AN to generate theincident report related to the incident and submit the incident report.Similarly, the volunteer 120 is provided widgets B1-BM to encourage thereporter 110 to report incidents. For example, a widget BM may be a‘report incident’ icon which the volunteer 120 can place on socialnetworking websites to encourage the reporter 110 to report theincident. The responder 130 is provided widgets C1-CK to inquire aboutthe incident report or to comment on the incident report.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for reporting and managingincidents using an incident reporting and alerting portal (IRAP),according to one embodiment. A participant or a user logged into theIRAP is identified at step 201. The user is categorized into variouscategories. For example, the user may be categorized as a reporter, avolunteer, or a responder. In one embodiment, the user exclusivelyrequests or specifies the category in which the user wants to getregistered. For example, the user may specify that the user wants to getcategorized or registered as the reporter. In another embodiment, thecategory of the user is identified from an action performed by the user.The category of the user is identified at step 202. Based upon theidentified category, the user is referred as the reporter, thevolunteer, or the responder at step 203.

The reporter usually generates an incident report related to anincident. The generated incident report is submitted by the reporter.The submitted incident report is received at step 204. In oneembodiment, the submitted incident reports are stored in a list whichmay be rendered on the IRAP. The user sends a request for displaying theincident report at step 205. In one embodiment, the request may be sentby selecting the incident report front the list. The selected incidentreport is rendered on a user interface (UI) at step 206. In oneembodiment, the responder may inquire about the incident report. It isdetermined whether the comment or inquiry is received related to theincident report at step 207. If the comment is received (step 207: YES),the comment is notified to the reporter who submitted the incidentreport at step 208. In one embodiment, the reporter submits a reply tothe comment. It is determined whether the reply to the comment issubmitted at step 209. If the reply to the comment is submitted (step209: YES), the reply is notified to the responder who commented on theincident report at step 2010. In one embodiment, the reply is alsonotified to one or more users interested in the incident.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for registering users undervarious categories for handling incidents, according to one embodiment.The user may request to get registered under a suitable category, e.g.,the reporter, the volunteer, and the responder. The request forregistering the user under the suitable category is received at step301. In one embodiment, the request may be triggered by an actionperformed by the user. Based upon the request, the user is registered asone of the reporter, the volunteer, or the responder at step 302. In oneembodiment, during registration, the user is asked to provide variouspersonal and/or professional information. The information related to theregistered users is stored in a database at step 303. In one embodiment,the information provided by the user at the time of registration may notbe complete. For example, the information may not include contactinformation of the user. It is determined whether the informationincludes various critical information at step 304. In one embodiment,the critical information includes at least one of a contact number ofthe user, an email ID of the user, an address of the user, etc. If theuser has provided the critical information (step 304: YES), theregistration is completed at step 305. In case the user has not providedthe critical information (step 304: NO), inquire about the criticalinformation from the user at step 306. It is determined whether thecritical information is received from the user at step 307. If thecritical information is received (step 307: YES), the registration iscomplete at step 305. If the critical information is not received (step307: NO), the critical information is inquired until the criticalinformation is provided. In one embodiment, the critical information isrequested periodically until the critical information is provided.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of the incident reporting andalerting portal (IRAP) 100 for reporting and managing incidentsaccording to one embodiment. One or more users or participants logs intothe IRAP 100. In one embodiment, the user visiting the IRAP 100 is thelogged-in user. The logged-in user may be categorized as one of thereporter 110, the volunteer 120, and the responder 130. In oneembodiment, the IRAP 100 categorizes the user based upon the actionperformed by the user. For example, if the user has submitted anincident report the user is automatically categorized as the reporter110. In another embodiment, the IRAP 100 categorizes the user based upona request received from the user. For example, the user may request toget categorized as the volunteer 120 and based upon the request the IRAP100 categorizes the user as the volunteer 120. The user may send therequest or specify the category of their choice during a first timelogging into the IRAP 100. Each category 110-130 represents a specificrole to be played by the user.

The users registered under various categories 110-130 are providedvarious widgets. For example, the users registered as the reporter 110are provided widgets such as email tool 410, a mobile tool 420, and abrowser extension tool 430 to report the incidents. In one embodiment,the reporter 110 can report the incident by sending an email to aregistered email ID. In one embodiment, when the reporter 110 selectsthe email tool 410, an email window 500 (FIG. 5) with ‘To’ field of theemail window 500 automatically populated with a registered email ID 510(e.g., emergency@incrpt.com) is generated. In one embodiment, the emailwindow 500 is generated from the reporter 110 personal email toolsavailable on the reporter 110 computer systems, e.g., Microsoft®Outlook. The reporter 110 can compose the email including variousdetails about the incident, e.g., data of the incident, location of theincident, and description of the incident. The composed email is sent onthe registered email ID. The volunteer 120 can read the emails receivedon the registered email ID.

In one embodiment, the mobile tool 420 enables the reporter 110 toreport the incidents from any mobile device, e.g., a cell phone. In oneembodiment, the reporter 110 can report incident via a short messagingservices (SMS). The reporter 110 can send the SMS to a registered cellphone for reporting incidents. In one embodiment, when the mobile tool420 is selected the SMS may be composed and send to the registered cellphone. In one embodiment, the volunteer 120 can read the SMS received onthe registered cell phone. In another embodiment, the volunteer 120composes the incident report based upon the email or the SMS receivedfrom the reporter 110

In one embodiment, the reporter 110 generates the incident report, e.g.,I1, by using the browser extension tool 430. In one embodiment, thebrowser extension tool 430 is a ‘reporting icon’ which may be selectedby the reporter 110. Once the ‘reporting icon’ is selected, an incidentreport window 600 (FIG. 6) is generated. The report incident window 600enables the reporter 110 to report the incident. The report incidentwindow 600 includes various fields, e.g., date field 610 for mentioningthe date of the incident, location field 620 for mentioning location ofthe incident, a description field 630 for mentioning details of theincident like what happened, and an attachment field 640 for uploadingor attaching at least one of an image, an audio, and a video related tothe incident. The report incident window 600 also includes a ‘reporting’button 650. Once the details of the incident are completed by thereporter 110, the reporting button 650 may be triggered or selected.Upon selecting the reporting button 650, the incident report I1 issubmitted on the IRAP 100. The submitted reports are stored in adatabase. In one embodiment, a confirmation message is sent to thereporter 110 who submitted the incident report I1.

In one embodiment, the reporter 110 creates their own website or abrowser 700 (FIG. 7) for reporting incidents or submitting the incidentreports. The reporter website 700 may include a reporter home page 710and contact information 720 of the reporter. In one embodiment, thevolunteer 120 is provided a widgets 440 (e.g., a ‘report incident’ icon)which the volunteer 120 can place on the reporter browser 700 toencourage the reporter 110 for reporting incidents or submittingincident reports, e.g., I1.

The volunteers 120 can place the widget 440 like ‘report incident’ iconon any website to enable anyone to report incidents and become thereporter 110. Alternately, the volunteer 120 encourages the users toreport incidents. For example, the volunteer 120 can place the reportincident icon on any social media sites such as Twitter®, Facebook®,etc., to encourage the users of those websites to report incidents. Inone embodiment, the volunteer 120 is required to seek permission from anowner or manager of the websites to place the widgets 440 like ‘reportincident’ icon upon their websites. In one embodiment, the volunteer12.0 creates their portal or website 800 (FIG. 8) to enable reporters toreport incidents. The website 800 includes a volunteer home page 810 anda report incident button 820 to encourage the participants or the usersto report the incident.

In one embodiment, once the report incident button 820 is selected,multiple steps, e.g., step 1 and step 2 may be displayed in a new window830 for reporting incident or submitting the incident report. In oneembodiment, in step 1 the reporter 110 can enter various informationrelated to the incident, e.g., location of the incident, the date andtime of the incident, description of the incident and in step 2 variousattachments, e.g., the image, the audio, or the video related to theincident may be uploaded. Once the information related to the incidentis completed, the incident report may be submitted.

Once the incident report is submitted, the volunteer 120 may peruse theincident report. In one embodiment, the volunteer 120 may peruse theincident report to check whether the incident report is genuine. In oneembodiment, the volunteer 120 may edit the incident report to furtheradd information or to improve the quality of the incident report. In oneembodiment, the volunteer 120 classifies the incident reports I1-IN. Inanother embodiment, the volunteer 120 rates the incident reports I1-IN.The incident reports I1-IN are rated based upon their usefulness, i.e.,whether the incident report is useful or not.

In one embodiment, all the submitted incident reports I1-IN is displayedin a list 910. In one embodiment, the user selects an icon, e.g., a‘list’ icon 920 to display the list 910. The list 910 may be filteredbased upon various parameters related to the incident. In oneembodiment, the parameters may include at least one of a geographicalarea or location of the incident, a time of the incident, and a categoryor type of the incident. The user can select an incident report I1 oftheir choice from the list 910. The selected incident report I1 isdisplayed in a window 930 stacked over the list 910. In anotherembodiment, the selected incident report I1 is displayed in a windowgenerated as a separate web page (not shown).

The incident report I1 may be read by anyone. For example, the responder130 can read the incident report. Upon reading the incident report I1,if the responder 130 has any query related to the incident report I1,the responder 130 can inquire about it. In one embodiment, the responder130 can inquire about the incident report 11 by writing or embedding acomment (FIG. 4: bold font <<comment>>) inside the incident report I1.In one embodiment, the responder 130 is provided an inquiry tool 460(FIG. 4) for inquiring about the incident. In one embodiment, when theresponder 130 selects the inquiry tool 460, an inquiry window (notshown) may be generated. The inquiry window may include a ‘submitinquiry’ button. The responder 130 can compose the inquiry within theinquiry window. Once the inquiry is composed, the responder 130 canclick the ‘submit inquiry’ button to submit the composed inquiry. In oneembodiment, the submitted inquiry may be read by the volunteer 120. Inanother embodiment, the submitted inquiry may be read by the reporter110.

The comment or inquiry is notified to the reporter 110 who submitted theincident report I1. The reporter 110 may reply back to the comment orinquiry. The reply is notified to the responder 130 who commented on theincident report I1. In one embodiment, the reply is sent to theresponder 130 on their registered mobile phone via SMS or to theirregistered email ID. In another embodiment, the reply is also notifiedto one or more users interested in the incident.

In one embodiment, the volunteer 120 is also provided a watch listwidget 450 (FIG. 4). Using the watch list widget 450, the volunteer 120can create various keywords or tags related to the incidents. In oneembodiment, the tag may be a hash tag (i.e., the tag prefixed with ahash or # symbol) used on Twitter®. Once the watch list widget 450 isselected, a watch list window 1000 is displayed. The volunteer cancreate or compose several tags related to the incident. For example, asshown in FIG. 10, the volunteer can create the hash tags namely #ABC,#earthquake, and #emergency. The tags are then linked to the requiredsocial networking site containing information on those tags. Forexample, the hash tags #earthquake and #emergency are linked toTwitter®, Once the hash tags are linked to the required social mediawebsite, the information on the hash tags may be retrieved from thatsocial media website. For example, once the hash tag, e.g., #earthquakeis linked to the Twitter®, all the tweets related to the hash tag#earthquake are retrieved from the Twitter®. Typically, once the hashtag #earthquake is selected, the IRAP 100 connects to Twitter® and allthe tweets related to the selected hash tag are downloaded anddisplayed. In one embodiment, the watch list window 1000 also includestrending topics 1001 illustrating current topics of discussion. Thewatch list window 1000 also includes a search topics tool 1002 to enablethe volunteer 120 to search the topics of their interest.

Embodiments described above provide a single platform for allparticipants including reporters, volunteers, and responders toparticipate for reporting and handling incidents. Categorization ofparticipants into reporters, volunteers, and responders provides awell-structured platform wherein the roles of participants are clearlydefined to efficiently handle the incidents. Volunteers are the centralentity that encourage, monitor, and guide other participants forreporting and handling incidents. The platform also encourages everyoneto contribute to the incidents as the contribution of the participantsare published, e.g., displayed to their friends. Various widgets andtools are provided to the participants to enable them to perform theirtask efficiently. The participants have flexibility to select the toolsor widgets of their choice to perform their respective tasks. Theplatform is connectable to other social networking sites, e.g.,Twitter®, Facebook®, etc., and therefore, the participants can easilyreport incidents from the social networking sites they use every day.Consequently, the system is efficient and user friendly which savesresource, time, and effort that might be wasted in gathering andchannelizing the information to appropriate people. Additionally, theplatform is extensible and new tools or widgets can be easily plugged-ininto the platform.

Some embodiments may include the above-described methods being writtenas one or more software components. These components, and thefunctionality associated with each, may be used by client, server,distributed, or peer computer systems. These components may be writtenin a computer language corresponding to one or more programminglanguages such as, functional, declarative, procedural, object-oriented,lower level languages and the like. They may be linked to othercomponents via various application programming interfaces and thencompiled into one complete application for a server or a client.Alternatively, the components maybe implemented in server and clientapplications. Further, these components may be linked together viavarious distributed programming protocols. Some example embodiments mayinclude remote procedure calls being used to implement one or more ofthese components across a distributed programming environment. Forexample, a logic level may reside on a first computer system that isremotely located from a second computer system containing an interfacelevel (e.g., a graphical user interface). These first and secondcomputer systems can be configured in a server-client, peer-to-peer, orsome other configuration. The clients can vary in complexity from mobileand handheld devices, to thin clients and on to thick clients or evenother servers.

The above-illustrated software components are tangibly stored on acomputer readable storage medium as instructions. The term “computerreadable storage medium” should be taken to include a single medium ormultiple media that stores one or more sets of instructions. The term“computer readable storage medium” should be taken to include anyphysical article that is capable of undergoing a set of physical changesto physically store, encode, or otherwise carry a set of instructionsfor execution by a computer system which causes the computer system toperform any of the methods or process steps described, represented, orillustrated herein. Examples of computer readable storage media include,but are not limited to: magnetic media, such as hard disks, floppydisks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs andholographic indicator devices; magneto-optical media; and hardwaredevices that are specially configured to store and execute, such asapplication-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), programmable logicdevices (“PLDs”) and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of computer readableinstructions include machine code, such as produced by a compiler, andfiles containing higher-level code that are executed by a computer usingan interpreter. For example, an embodiment may be implemented usingJava, or other object-oriented programming language and developmenttools. Another embodiment may be implemented in hard-wired circuitry inplace of or in combination with machine readable software instructions.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system 1100. Thecomputer system 1100 includes a processor 1105 that executes softwareinstructions or code stored on a computer readable storage medium 1155to perform the above-illustrated methods. The computer system 1100includes a media reader 1140 to read the instructions from the computerreadable storage medium 1155 and store the instructions in storage 1110or in random access memory (RAM) 1115. The storage 1110 provides a largespace for keeping static data where at least some instructions could bestored for later execution. The stored instructions may be furthercompiled to generate other representations of the instructions anddynamically stored in the RAM 1115. The processor 1105 readsinstructions from the RAM 1115 and performs actions as instructed.According to one embodiment, the computer system 1100 further includesan output device 1125 (e.g., a display) to provide at least sonic of theresults of the execution as output including, but not limited to, visualinformation to users and an input device 1130 to provide a user oranother device with means for entering data and/or otherwise interactwith the computer system 1100. Each of these output devices 1125 andinput devices 1130 could be joined by one or more additional peripheralsto further expand the capabilities of the computer system 1100. Anetwork communicator 1135 may be provided to connect the computer system1100 to a network 1150 and in turn to other devices connected to thenetwork 1150 including other clients, servers, data stores, andinterfaces, for instance. The modules of the computer system 1100 areinterconnected via a bus 1145. Computer system 1100 includes a datasource interface 1120 to access data source 1160. The data source 1160can be accessed via one or more abstraction layers implemented inhardware or software. For example, the data source 1160 may be accessedby network 1150. In some embodiments the data source 1160 may beaccessed via an abstraction layer, such as, a semantic layer.

A data source is an information resource. Data sources include sourcesof data that enable data storage and retrieval. Data sources may includedatabases, such as, relational, transactional, hierarchical,multi-dimensional (e.g., OLAP), object oriented databases, and the like.Further data sources include tabular data (e.g., spreadsheets, delimitedtext files), data tagged with a markup language (e.g., XML data),transactional data, unstructured data (e.g., text files, screenscrapings), hierarchical data (e.g., data in a file system, XML data),files, a plurality of reports, and any other data source accessiblethrough an established protocol, such as, Open Database Connectivity(ODBC), produced by an underlying software system, e.g., an ERP system,and the like. Data sources may also include a data source where the datais not tangibly stored or otherwise ephemeral such as data streams,broadcast data, and the like. These data sources can include associateddata foundations, semantic layers, management systems, security systemsand so on.

In the above description, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a thorough understanding of embodiments. One skilled in therelevant art will recognize, however that the one or more embodimentscan be practiced without one or more of the specific details or withother methods, components, techniques, etc. In other instances,well-known operations or structures are not shown or described indetails.

Although the processes illustrated and described herein include seriesof steps, it will be appreciated that the different embodiments are notlimited by the illustrated ordering of steps, as some steps may occur indifferent orders, some concurrently with other steps apart from thatshown and described herein. In addition, not all illustrated steps maybe required to implement a methodology in accordance with the one ormore embodiments. Moreover, it will be appreciated that the processesmay be implemented in association with the apparatus and systemsillustrated and described herein as well as in association with othersystems not illustrated.

The above descriptions and illustrations of embodiments, including whatis described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. While specificembodiments of and examples for, the embodiment are described herein forillustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possiblewithin the scope of the embodiments, as those skilled in the relevantart will recognize. These modifications can be made to the embodimentsin light of the above detailed description. Rather, the scope of the oneor more embodiments are to be determined by the following claims, whichare to be interpreted in accordance with established doctrines of claimconstruction.

What is claimed is:
 1. An article of manufacture including anon-transient computer readable storage medium to tangibly storeinstructions, which when executed by one or more computers in a networkof computers causes performance of operations comprising: identifying auser logged into an incident reporting and alerting portal; identifyinga category for the user, wherein the category includes one of areporter, a volunteer, and a responder; providing one or more widgets tothe reporter to generate an incident report related to an incident andsubmit the incident report to the incident reporting and alertingportal; providing one or more widgets to the volunteer to rate theincident report submitted by the reporter; and providing one or morewidgets to the responder to compose an inquiry related to the incidentreport submitted by the reporter.
 2. The article of manufacture of claim1 further comprising instructions which when executed cause the one ormore computers to perform the operations comprising: determining whetherthe inquiry is received from the responder; when the inquiry is receivedfrom the responder, notifying the reporter about the inquiry;determining whether a reply to the inquiry is received from thereporter; and when the reply to the inquiry is received from thereporter, notifying the responder about the reply.
 3. The article ofmanufacture of claim 1 further comprising instructions which whenexecuted cause the one or more computers to perform the operationscomprising: providing the one or more widgets to the reporter to: uploadat least one of an audio, a video, and an image related to an incident,wherein at least one of the audio, the video, and the image is uploadedalong with the incident report; and providing the one or more widgets tothe volunteer to: compose one or more keywords related to the incident;link the composed keywords to a social media site having the informationrelated to the respective keywords; and create a website for collectinginformation including the incident report.
 4. The article of manufactureof claim 3 further comprising instructions which when executed cause theone or more computers to perform the operations comprising: receiving aselection of a keyword; connecting to the social media site having theinformation on the selected keyword; and displaying the information fromthe social media site.
 5. The article of manufacture of claim 1, whereinthe category is identified through a request received from the userduring a first time logging into the incident reporting arid alertingportal and wherein the request includes the category specified by theuser.
 6. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the incidentreport comprises at least one of a text message, an image, an audio, anda video.
 7. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the incidentreport is submitted onto the incident reporting and alerting portalthrough at least one of an email, a short messaging service (SMS), and aweb browser including a social networking site.
 8. The article ofmanufacture of claim 1 further comprising instructions which whenexecuted cause the one or more computers to send a confirmation messageto the reporter submitted the incident report.
 9. A method for reportingand managing incidents implemented on a network of one or morecomputers, the method comprising: identifying a user logged into anincident reporting and alerting portal; identifying a category for theuser, wherein the category includes one of a reporter, a volunteer, anda responder; receiving an incident report from the reporter; determiningwhether a comment related to the incident report is received from theresponder; when the comment is received, notifying the reporter aboutthe continent; determining whether a reply to the comment is received;and when the reply to the comment is received, notifying responder whocommented the incident report about the reply.
 10. The method of claim 9further comprising: providing the one or more widgets to the reporterto: upload at least one of an audio, a video, and an image related to anincident, wherein at least one of the audio, the video, and the image isuploaded along with the incident report; and providing the one or morewidgets to the volunteer to: compose one or more keywords related to theincident; link the composed keywords to a social media site having theinformation on the respective keywords; and create a website forcollecting information including the incident report.
 11. The method ofclaim 10, further comprising: receiving a selection of a keyword;connecting to the social media site having the information on theselected keyword; and displaying the information from the social mediasite.
 12. The method of claim 9 further comprising: based upon thereceived incident report, sending a confirmation message to the reportersubmitted the incident report; receiving a request for registering theuser as one of the reporter, the volunteer, and the responder, whereinthe request includes the category specified by the user; based upon therequest, registering the user as one of the reporter, the volunteer, andthe responder; and storing information related to the registered usersinto a database.
 13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:identifying an action performed by the user, wherein the actioncomprises at least one of generating the incident report, commenting onthe incident report, editing the received incident report; based uponthe identified action, automatically registering the user as one of thevolunteer, the reporter, and the responder; storing information of theregistered user in a database; determining whether contact informationof the registered user is stored in the database; and when the contactinformation is not stored in the database, inquiring about the contactinformation from the registered user.
 14. A computer system forreporting and managing incidents comprising: a memory to store programcode; and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, theprocessor configured to execute the program code to cause one or morecomputers in a network of computers to: identify a user logged into anincident reporting and alerting portal; identify a category for theuser, wherein the category includes one of a reporter, a volunteer, anda responder; provide one or more widgets to the reporter to generate anincident report related to an incident and submit the incident report tothe incident reporting and alerting portal; provide one or more widgetsto the volunteer to edit the incident report submitted by the reporter;and provide one or more widgets to the responder to compose an inquiryrelated to the incident report submitted by the reporter.
 15. Thecomputer system of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configuredto perform the operations comprising: determining whether the inquiry isreceived from the responder; when the inquiry is received from theresponder, notifying the reporter about the inquiry; determining whethera reply to the inquiry is received from the reporter; and when the replyto the inquiry is received from the reporter, notifying the responderabout the reply.
 16. The computer system of claim 14, wherein theprocessor is further configured to perform at least one of theoperations comprising: providing the one or more widgets to the reporterto: upload at least one of an audio, a video, and an image related to anincident, wherein at least one of the audio, the video, arid the imageis uploaded along with the incident report; and providing the one ormore widgets to the volunteer to: compose one or more keywords relatedto the incident; link the composed keywords to a social media sitehaving the information on the respective keywords; and create a websitefor collecting information including the incident report.
 17. Thecomputer system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configuredto perform the operations comprising: receiving a selection of akeyword; connecting to the social media site having the information onthe selected keyword; and displaying the information from the socialmedia site.
 18. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the processoris further configured to perform the operations comprising: based uponthe received incident report, sending a confirmation message to thereporter submitted the incident report; receiving a request forregistering the user as one of the reporter, the volunteer, and theresponder, wherein the request includes the category specified by theuser; based upon the request, registering the user as one of thereporter, the volunteer, and the responder; and storing informationrelated to the registered users into a database.
 19. The computer systemof claim 14, wherein the processor is farther configured to perform theoperations comprising: identifying an action performed by the user,wherein the action comprises at least one of generating the incidentreport, commenting on the incident report, editing the received incidentreport; based upon the identified action, automatically registering theuser as one of the volunteer, the reporter, and the responder; storinginformation of the registered user in a database; determining whethercontact information of the registered user is stored in the database;and when the contact information is not stored in the database,inquiring about the contact information from the registered user. 20.The computer system of claim 14, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to send a confirmation message to the reporter submitted theincident report.